


Love Planted a Rose

by Gavilan



Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe
Genre: 1940s dating culture references, Bucky Barnes's Metal Arm, Bucky's making this harder than it has to be, Courting Rituals, Dating, Declarations Of Love, Flowers, Fluff, Kissing, M/M, Metalworking, Natasha is slightly less clueless, Pining, Post-Captain America: The Winter Soldier, Protective Jarvis (Iron Man movies), Relationship Advice, Romance, Romantic Gestures, Shovel Talk, Steve is clueless, bendy stretches, but for dating, but he's a romantic, canon divergent after Captain America: The Winter Soldier, everyone lives in the tower, pretty vague on canon details honestly, proposal, so he has to
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-01-01
Updated: 2019-01-01
Packaged: 2019-10-01 22:34:42
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,697
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17252639
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Gavilan/pseuds/Gavilan
Summary: Bucky wants to show Tony how much he likes him . . . but how?





	Love Planted a Rose

**Author's Note:**

  * For [iCheat](https://archiveofourown.org/users/iCheat/gifts).



> A gift for iCheat for the WinterIron Holiday Exchange. This fills the prompt "formal courting - Bucky courts Tony." I included various friendships and some protective Jarvis as well. Hope you enjoy!
> 
> Title from the poem of the same name by Katharine Lee Bates.

“I don’t know what to say, Buck. You were always the one who was good at this.” Steve shrugged from his seat on the couch.

“No I wasn’t, Stevie, don’t be ridiculous.” Bucky paced back and forth, running his hands through his shoulder-length hair.

“Sure you were. Maybe you just haven’t gotten the memories back fully. You used to go out all the time.”

“That wasn’t . . . I don’t want to _date_ Tony, Steve.”

Steve frowned. “But . . . isn’t that what you just said? You came in here all in a fuss because you don’t know how to ask him out.”

Bucky yanked his metal hand through his hair in frustration, long strands coming with it where they were stuck in the grooves between the plates. “Well, yeah, but I don’t want to _date_ him. Do you not remember what dating is? Was? Ugh, I feel like a time traveller sometimes, I swear. And I lived through the damn time!”

“Ugh, yeah. So what’s wrong with dating?”

“Dating isn’t about love, Stevie. It’s not even about liking the person. It’s… you know how I used to go out with a different girl every night of the week?”

“Yeah, that’s… dating,” Steve said with exaggerated patience.

“Exactly! It doesn’t mean anything. It’s all about who you get seen with and where and how many girls you can date in a week. Hell, even in a night!”

“Oh,” said Steve. “I… feel like I should have known that.”

Bucky rolled his eyes. “You were so convinced you could never be popular I’m not surprised you didn’t notice the system for it, punk. Besides, you were always a romantic. That’s why I thought you’d know what to do.”

Steve’s frown shifted from confusion to contemplation. “I don’t know, Buck. Just ‘cause I’m a romantic doesn’t mean I’m any good at actual romance. I mean, just look at how I botched everything with Peggy.” He sighed, but then his eyes lit up with a thought. “What about men? Tony’s a guy, so what about the dating scene with men? I mean, you didn’t exactly talk about it, but I know you dated some guys, right? Does that experience give you any ideas?”

“Ugh, no,” Bucky said with a full-body shudder.

Steve was still looking at him with truly impressive levels of hopeful naiveté.

“Steve, there wasn’t a dating scene. Asking Tony into an alley for a Frenchie would be even less helpful than asking him to go dancing for an evening.”

The hopeful look transformed into a full-face blush.

“God, Stevie, you’re such a prude.” Bucky started laughing. “You look like a tomato, you know.”

“Oh, stuff it, jerk,” Steve said, hiding his red face in his hands.

Bucky huffed and flopped down on the couch next to him. “I still don’t know what to do about Tony,” he pointed out, nudging Steve.

“Well, everything I say is either useless or offensive, apparently. Go ask someone else.”

“Who?” Bucky asked him. “It’s not like I got a big long list of friends, here.”

“First off, you have lots of friends,” Steve said in the obstinate tone he always got when fighting Bucky’s self-esteem issues. “Any of the team would be happy to help you. Second, um…”

Bucky laughed. “See?”

“Hey, no, wait,” Steve protested. “I’m just thinking. I know, you should ask Natasha!”

“Oh, that’s a great idea, Stevie. The brainwashed Russian assassin should definitely ask the slightly less brainwashed Russian spy for dating advice.” Bucky gestured wildly to demonstrate his disapproval of this idea.

“You did say it wasn’t _dating_ ,” Steve said.

“Oh, cut it out with that smirk, punk. You know what I meant.”

“Yep,” Steve said. “Still think you should ask Natasha. She’s got more modern experience than I do, at least. And wasn’t one of her things honeypot missions? Sure, it was fake, but the motions are the same.”

Bucky glared at him.

“Yeah, I know, you hate admitting when I’m right,” Steve said, leaning back with his arms behind his head and a self-satisfied grin on his face.

“Fine.” Bucky threw his hands in the air and stood up. “I’ll go ask Nat.”

 ***

When Bucky got to the gym level, he was sure for a second that Jarvis had misdirected him when he asked for Nat’s location because the gym was completely dark.

“Natasha?” he called out, sliding into a fighting stance as he eased his way into the room.

“Hi, Yasha,” came Nat’s voice from the darkness, smooth and composed.

“There a reason you’re down here in the dark?”

“Oh, sorry about that. J, lights please.”

Bucky blinked in the sudden light and kept blinking as he puzzled out what, exactly, Natasha was doing. She was on the stretching mats, but Bucky wasn’t sure he’d ever seen anyone stretch quite that much before. She was in a full split, leaning back so that her head was on her back knee and her hands reached her foot, toes elegantly pointed and red hair pooling on the floor. She turned her head toward him, a slight strain showing in her eyebrows but otherwise completely relaxed.

“Did you need something, Yasha?”

“Oh, right, yeah, um, I was just, um . . . Steve said you might have some advice for me with my personal thing?” Bucky shifted his weight awkwardly and then decided to sit down to be more on Nat’s level.

“What kind of personal thing?” asked Nat, flowing out of the pose and into a backbend. Bucky watched in awe as she walked her hands back till they were almost at her feet.

“It’s, well, I want to ask someone out, but properly, you know? So he knows I mean it.” Bucky twirled a strand of hair around his flesh hand.

“Finally going to do something about Tony, huh?” Natasha asked, raising her right leg to point toward the ceiling.

Bucky sighed. “That obvious?”

“To everyone but Tony,” Nat agreed. “So what help do you need from me?”

“I don’t know. I just . . . want to make it clear I’m serious, that it’s _him_ I want, not just anyone. I know how to go out with just anyone. This is different. He . . .”

Bucky trailed off, thinking of Tony. He’d been so nervous at first when Tony worked on his arm. Dissociating hard, eyes blank and mind spiraling, until Tony’s never-ending stream of jokes and science and stories pulled him back to the present. Over the weeks and months, as Bucky relaxed and started recovering mentally and physically from what Hydra had done to him, he’d spent more and more time in the workshop, listening to Tony’s rambling, watching his quick hands manipulate light and metal with ease. When Tony had gotten him involved, pulled him in to hold up a car or bend a piece of metal the way he wanted, he’d found Tony’s enthusiasm was infectious. Soon they were working together, Tony showing him how the math he used for shooting transferred to engineering. When his libido returned, of course he latched on to his new friend, admiring his muscular arms and fit body, his warm eyes and soft, mobile mouth. But it was never that simple, and Bucky had realized he wanted to be more than Tony’s friend, but also more than Tony’s date. He wanted . . . well, that was the problem, wasn’t it? He wanted everything, and he had no idea how to get it.

Natasha kicked out of the backbend and twisted till she was sitting across from Bucky with both feet in her lap. The movement startled him out of his reverie, and she smiled as he blushed.

“You’ve got it bad, solider,” she said, her eyes twinkling.

“I do. I really do. He’s just so perfect. Everyone says he has all these masks, Nat, and he does, I know, but I never see all that. He’s just Tony in the shop with me, with the jokes and the nicknames and the genius . . .”

“And the ass,” Natasha interjected.

“And the ass,” he agreed. “But it’s not even about that at this point. I’d use the fucking L-word if I didn’t know it was crazy and creepy. I mean, he doesn’t even know I like him.”

“So why not just tell him? Ask him out?”

Bucky shook his head. “We’re both players, Nat. Or used to be. What if he thinks it’s just that, just for fun? Or like you said, just for his ass? I need to show him how much he means to me.”

Natasha sighed. “You want to court him.”

Bucky frowned. “Yeah, I guess that’s the right word. Righter than ‘date,’ anyway.” He turned big, anxious eyes on Nat. “How do I do that?”

Nat chuckled. “Yasha, you’re asking the wrong person. I did honeypots. Seduction. That’s kind of the opposite of long term. And my honeypot with Tony failed spectacularly, anyway.”

Bucky laughed. He knew that story, had heard it from both sides of the equation. Nat had been expecting the old Tony Stark, billionaire playboy, and she hadn’t been able to adjust her script in time to snare the new one.  

“But surely you have some sort of advice?” he asked when they were both done chuckling over the story.

Nat pursed her lips. “So you want to court him, right? Show him you’re serious about him?”

Bucky nodded enthusiastically.

“He’s special, Nat. I want to do something that shows that I want him, just him.”

“So do something unique,” said Nat as if it were the simplest thing in the world. “Do something for your first date that is perfect for him, or something only you can do, or both. Make it about you two rather than some abstract idea of romance and courting.”

Bucky groaned and flopped down on the mats. “And how am I supposed to do that?” he asked.

“You’re the one in love with him, Yasha,” Nat said, rising gracefully to her feet and looking down at him. “You’ll figure it out.” And with that, she strolled off toward the gym showers.

Bucky caught himself before he could run a metal hand through his hair and rip any more hair out. “Something unique,” he said to the empty room. “Great.”

*** 

“Fuck!” Bucky threw yet another mangled scrap of metal at the wall of the apartment and winced as this one stuck in the drywall. “Supposed to be flowers, not fucking shruiken,” he muttered, grabbing another piece of metal from the coffee table. The living room of the apartment he shared with Steve probably wasn’t the best place for this, but he couldn’t exactly work on Tony’s surprise in Tony’s workshop. Steve had come home earlier, seen him shredding a steel sheet to bits with a glare of murderous concentration, and shut himself in his room. Compared to Bucky’s behavior his first few months of Winter Soldier recovery, this probably barely rated as weird for Steve at this point.

“Excuse me, Sergeant Barnes,” said Jarvis. “I have put in a maintenance request for the wall, but might I suggest you relocate to Sir’s workshop for the duration of your project?”

“Sorry, I’ll try not to embed any of the rest,” Bucky said sheepishly. “I really can’t move to Tony’s workshop, though. I’m making him a gift.”

“I see. Since your gift appears to be a bouquet and neither a holiday nor Sir’s birthday is approaching, might I assume your gift to be romantic in nature?”

“Well, at least you can tell they’re flowers, and yeah, it’s romantic. Please don’t tell him?” he entreated.

“I was unaware you and Sir were . . . involved,” Jarvis said, a hint of disapproval in his voice.

“We’re not, yet,” Bucky said, knowing that Jarvis was never “unaware” of anything that went on in the tower. It was one of the things that first put him at ease here, knowing he had someone looking out for him whom he couldn’t hurt. “The flowers are part of my plan for asking him if he’s interested.”

As he explained, he carefully bent a steel piece between his metal fingers to give it a fluted edge, then pinched it onto a rolled steel stem next to another petal. This one was finally starting to look like a rose. He added another petal and set it carefully next to the other three completed roses. Natasha had said to find something unique. Rather than an outing, he’d decided to make a gift and a declaration. It seemed counterintuitive at first – Tony could buy anything he wanted, and make anything he couldn’t buy. But when Bucky thought about his interactions with Tony, he hit on the perfect thing. Tony often had him use his metal arm and strength to bend and position mechanical parts when he was helping out in the workshop. Combining that skill and memory with a traditional romantic gesture, Bucky settled on a bouquet of steel roses. It was something only he could make, something only Tony would fully appreciate, something romantic but beyond the standard romantic gesture. He only hoped Tony would find it romantic and not comical.

“And what, exactly, are your intentions with Sir?” Jarvis asked, and Bucky looked up at the sharp tone.

“I want to be with him. Romantically, as we established with the flowers. Why, got a problem with that?” Bucky challenged.

“I have only Sir’s wellbeing in mind, Sergeant. As long as the same is true for you, you will find no problems with me in your intentions. Sir has been damaged by people he trusts, yet he continues to trust easily. I, however, have no such failing. If I believe you have betrayed Sir’s trust, or mine, you will find me with quite a few problems indeed.”

Bucky almost laughed at the threat, but he could hear the sincerity in Jarvis’s tone. “Don’t worry, Jarvis. If I broke Tony’s trust, I’d want you to take me down. I’m serious about him, I promise.” He laid another completed flower on the table. “I’m glad he has you.”

“In that case,” Jarvis said, tone warm again, “I have some red and gold ribbon in storage that might help with your bouquet-making endeavor. Shall I send it up?”

Bucky smiled. “Perfect. Thanks, Jarvis.”

*** 

Bucky stopped in the doorway of the workshop, arrested partially by nerves and partially by the sight of Tony. His back was turned, and he was working on what looked like the engine of one of his clean energy cars, pieces sprawled across the worktable in front of him. His black tank top put all the muscles in his arms on display as he tensed them to pull two parts of the engine apart. He grunted as they refused to separate and turned to reach for a tool, then smiled as he caught sight of Bucky still standing awkwardly in the doorway.

“Oh, hey, Buckaroo, perfect timing!” Tony hefted the machine. “Come apply some of that super strength for me.”

Bucky took a deep breath and stepped into the workshop. Tony’s eyes widened as he caught sight of the bouquet. He was silent for a moment, taking in the intricately folded flowers entwined with red and gold ribbon. Bucky felt the moment of silence tip over into awkwardness and tried desperately to remember any of the words he’d carefully prepared for this moment.

“I, um, I made these for you,” he said.

“You made them?” Tony grinned, setting the engine part down before walking over and examining the roses in detail. Bucky took a deep breath as Tony’s examination brought him right into Bucky’s space.

"Yeah, here,” he said, holding them out. Warmth rose in his chest as Tony reached out and took the bouquet from his hands without hesitation.

“Did I forget something? Is it my birthday?” Tony looked around. “J, did I forget my own birthday?”

“No, it’s not a birthday,” Bucky interrupted before Jarvis could say anything. “I . . . okay, I had this whole speech planned out, and it flew out of my head because . . . because you’re the most beautiful man I’ve ever met and you make me feel so happy I forget everything except my need to be close to you,” he said all in a rush.

Tony blinked at him, holding the bouquet to his chest.

“Okay, that wasn’t how I planned to start it, but yeah, I wanted to do something to show you how much you mean to me. I’d like to ask you out. No, not just out. I’d like to be yours – your boyfriend, your partner, whatever you like.”

Tony opened his mouth to say something, but Bucky plowed onward, staring at Tony’s hands on the bouquet because he was afraid he’d lose his train of thought if he looked into Tony’s eyes. He’d found the words he’d planned, and he had to make Tony see how he felt.

“Tony, you’re brilliant and gorgeous and funny and caring. You welcomed me even though you had no reason to and lots of reasons to stay the hell away. You were the first person other than Steve to treat me as a person, to care about me. You have such a big heart, and you keep caring no matter what. Your smile when you’re working on your tech is absolutely breathtaking. You have a special place in my heart, and I’d like to try a relationship with you.”

Bucky took a shaky breath and looked up at Tony. His eyes were shining, an amazed smile on his face.

“Wow, okay, yes. Yes, I would love to try a relationship with you.” He took a shaky breath of his own, and his smile grew, going from a soft, small, open smile to a delighted grin. “That was absolutely the most romantic speech I’ve ever heard. Did you just propose, but for dating? I don’t know if that’s adorable or hot. Kind of both.”

Bucky grinned back. “I just wanted you to know I’m serious.”

He stepped into Tony’s space and cupped Tony’s cheek with his metal hand, lightheaded with relief and wonder. He marveled at the sensation of Tony’s beard and skin under his hand courtesy of the enhanced proprioception sensors that Tony had added to the fingertips. The silence grew as they stared into each other’s eyes, finally given permission to stare, to let the feelings that had been consuming the workshop for weeks bloom.

“So are you going to kiss me?” Tony asked.

Bucky leaned down, and Tony met him halfway. The kiss was everything Bucky had been imagining and more. Tony’s lips were soft and warm against him, the smell of his skin intoxicating. They deepened the kiss, crushing the metal bouquet between them, and Bucky lost himself in the feeling of Tony’s mouth, running his flesh hand through Tony’s hair and keeping his metal hand firmly on Tony’s face, caressing his cheek as he explored his mouth. They were both gasping when they drew apart, Bucky’s chin tingling from beard burn and both of them grinning irrepressibly.

“So perfect,” he murmured, running his metal thumb over Tony’s red, kiss-swollen bottom lip.

Tony broke eye contact and winced as he moved the bouquet from where it was pressed tightly against his stomach. “Ouch, I bet that left a mark,” he remarked.

“Oh, shit, Tony, I'm so sorry. Here I was trying to make the perfect gift for you and I didn’t even think about it–”

Tony cut him off with a wave of his hand. “It’s fine, Bucky bear, seriously. I get worse pinches from the armor all the time.” He lifted the bouquet to eye level, examining the delicate ripples of the petals. “You really made this for me?”

“Yeah, bent the steel with my metal hand. Figured it was something you’d appreciate, and something only I could make you, y’know? Like a symbol of how I feel about you.”

“That is seriously adorable. Dum-E, find me a vase or something to put this in, would you?” Tony walked over to the couch, still running his fingers over the petals. He sat down with a thump and gestured for Bucky to sit next to him. “You put a lot of thought into this, huh?” he said, leaning against Bucky as soon as he sat down.

Bucky adjusted his position till he could wrap an arm around Tony’s shoulder. “Yeah.”

Tony snuggled closer to Bucky’s side. “So, boyfriends?”

Bucky’s cheeks warmed at the word. “Boyfriends.”

“You do know I would have said yes with just a coffee date, right? Not that I don’t appreciate the romance, and the flowers are lovely, but I’m curious. This a 40s thing?”

Bucky laughed. “Not at all. Dating in the 40s was a lot like your whole playboy thing you used to do, actually – all popularity, no romance. No, this was me trying to avoid all that. Wanted it to be perfect. I’ve never felt like this for someone before.”

“That’s a tall order to live up to, Buckaroo.”

“Nah, you don’t have to do anything. You’re perfect just the way you are.”

“So now that you’re my boyfriend, does that mean I can stop hiding the way I look at you? It’s been hard, giving you the time you need, not even knowing for sure if you’re gay, let alone into me.”

“You mean you couldn’t tell?” Bucky asked. “Everyone’s been saying it’s about time I asked you out with the way I’ve been mooning.”

“Well yeah, I guessed. But I wasn’t gonna rush things. Not when you were still recovering and we had such a great friendship. I figured you’d come around when you were ready. Didn’t expect the coming around to come with grand declarations and roses, but those were pretty great.”

“So you’re saying I could have just come down here and said ‘hey, wanna be my boyfriend?’”

Tony shrugged. “Pretty much. You’re hot, sweet, smart, funny, why wouldn’t I want to date you?” His voice grew more serious. “I know you said it’s more than that, more than just dating for you. I think I would like that, too. Being serious.”

“Good. ‘Cause I’m very serious about you.”

Tony wound his hand in Bucky’s hair and pulled him down for a kiss.

**Author's Note:**

> What I'm picturing for Bucky's bouquet: https://www.etsy.com/listing/481722613/steel-rose-bouquet?gpla=1&gao=1&utm_campaign=shopping_us_SteelRosesCo_sfc_osa&utm_medium=cpc&utm_source=google&utm_custom1=0&utm_content=13536214&gclid=CjwKCAiA9qHhBRB2EiwA7poaeFMobVBUF7vNXQIVXq43bFhCXGhohLJVAwIFZH2Wfypep3xidb5mABoCsbEQAvD_BwE


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